Up Winter Hill Bah't hat. Home to Barnsley, Tues 7th May 8-0 clock

[Harry Genshaw]

We got there. That's all that matters.

It was an absolute privilege to be in the best atmosphere I've ever experienced at the 'bok. Amazing support.

Went a bit quiet that last 20! But yeah was mainly up, good support. Can recall a few similar. Ipswich/Bobic game, couple against Arsenal. Atletico home...etc. But best in recent history

Yeah, prior to tonight I'd have said Atletico Madrid had been the best I'd heard. Lots of brief periods (Frandsen's goal v Boro, I thought the bloody roof was coming off!) but tonight was almost 90+ minutes of noise and singing from all sides. Incredible.

I was as cynical as anyone when I saw the clapper thing on my seat, 5 minutes in and I was battering it like everyone else!

[DJBlu]

Drink it in.

[truewhite15]

We've won nothing yet, and that 2nd half performance fell a fair way short of target.

We've done the minimum necessary to get through to our minimum target. Games will have to be upped, defences will have to be tightened if we want to achieve our primary target.

Oh, and if you're the pond scum who tried to get into it with a cameraman after he stopped you nicking his stool because your stumpy legs couldn't vault you over the advertising hoardings, and ended up forearming me in the face - have a serious think about your life choices.

[Worthy4England]

Yes to all that TW.

Oh and the car park was carnage...normally takes me about 45 mins. Just got home...

[Prufrock]

feck me we made hard work of that. But wemberley!

[DJBlu]

Got back from work 40 mins ago and my heart rate and blood pressure have returned to normal.

Can't imagine what fans in the stadium went through at the ground.

The result was probably what we needed. It'll let the players and fans know that we're not there yet and we're going to have to work our bollocks off to get promoted. We're there and still in it.

COYWM!!!

[jmjhb]

The 10/10 performance that we pull out 2-3 times a season would be nice next week

[dave the minion]

We've won nothing yet, and that 2nd half performance fell a fair way short of target.

We've done the minimum necessary to get through to our minimum target. Games will have to be upped, defences will have to be tightened if we want to achieve our primary target.

I'm kind of with you, but it would be remiss to not remind ourselves that it wasn't just us out there making a fist of things, but that there was another team involved , and one who had to throw everything at us to try to scrape a win. And fair play to them, they tried and almost nicked something.
At times we.were shaky and sloppy, but how much of that was down to Barnsleys intensity rather than out ineptitude no one knows...

[BWFC_Insane]

That’s a lot to unpack isn’t it?

It’s hard to really sum that up. The positives tonight, aside from a big last ten minutes that got the job done….

Front two of Collins and Charles were excellent. Truly excellent.
Thomason had to hold that midfield together and did, despite being booked and whilst he should have scored I thought was great under severe pressure.
Randell was probably my man of the match (for us), he was very very good.

Now the problems as I see them.

We are far far far too brittle and have been for most of the season since Christmas. Concede too many, too easily. Tonight exemplifies that.
Santos, I’m sorry but your centre half captain simply can’t perform like that in a game like tonight. It’s symptomatic. All the ability in the world but mentality….its just not right.
Geth and Toal creaked tonight. Seriously creaked. Toal especially. Cosgrove won everything against them and against santos too. Cosgrove. He’s hardly a world beater.
Sheehan is great when we have the ball. He’s a good harrier off it. But tonight we needed a screen for the back three to help them cope. A campo or hierro or Faye. Ideally one who can run. But definitely one who blocks the strikers off and protects the defenders. Sheehan couldnt offer any of that as he’s just too physically small. When they brought Cole on I was screaming for Evatt to put Iredale into that role to help out. We desperately needed it.
And Evatt tactically tonight his game management was not good at all. We needed earlier subs to add fresh legs and deal with the problems Barnsley threw at us. On the hour mark you could visibly see a few flagging.

The fans were outstanding and the bottle we showed in that last ten minutes to see it through was for me massive. A huge collective effort, fans, team. Cameron Jerome was great when he came on. I don’t think we should underestimate the sheer physical and mental effort it took for the players and fans to see off the last fifteen or so. Everyone in that ground believed Barnsley would score again. But to collectively rise up and dig it out was excellent. A few scares but considering the scenario not too many.

As above I hope it does them good. Acts as a reminder you can’t switch off. Can’t put in a shaky performance. We go to Wembley without the ‘unbeaten in 10’ tag or whatever it was which I think again helps. We aren’t ’due that defeat’ if that makes sense.

But at Wembley let’s be more like we were at Oakwell than we were tonight please!

Oh and forgot to say, that’s the best atmosphere I’ve ever seen at the macron, reebok or whatever it is has has been called. No question.

[irie Cee Bee]

We are in the final and I am happy. We fought hard against a really good team who threw everything and the kitchen sink at us, refusing to give up. We don't normally survive these types of games, and yes, we lost, but we fought hard to get to Wembley and made it.

We lost the plot in the 2nd half as we thought Barnsley were dead and buried at half time, Wembley was in our minds. Credit to them, they came back from the dead refusing to give up, and we were all over the place. Hopefully we will learn from this, and realize that a match is never over until the ref blows his final whistle.

Man of the match for us.. Randell Williams. He was excellent.

[DJBlu]

Can anyone explain why Einstein didn't include Bolton Wanderers in his theory of relativity because that observed last 10 minutes was clearly a week.

[officer_dibble]

Agree with most if not all of the above…

Williams was motm, Charles also showed he can step up to the occasion.

Losing, and getting a bollocking for it, may not be a bad thing. Thomason should have buried his chance, and there should have been others. Would have liked to have seen Jerome on for Collins earlier to help make it stick.

But we did dig in that last ten when it became about digging in and protecting what we had. Of course it should not have come for that but mistakes happen and you have to credit Barnsley for capitalising. Frustrating we made Cosgrove look like prime Ibrahimovic - we have to learn from that or the peterbrough/oxford striker will have a field day.

[Worthy4England]

Over the season, we're approaching 1 in 3 where the oppo have scored at least 2. If that doesn't undo us in 10 days, it needs a lot of work. And if it does it needs a lot of work!

There's little merit in pointing out there's two teams. That's how football works. We know there's two teams, can we just stop the other one scoring 3 quite as often?

We should also point out there's a ball, maybe put it in the net more often than they put it in ours!

The last three games, we've not had much possession. 43, 40, 50.1%. And we've probably shaded a couple of decisions, but it feels like much to be done in 10 days, because we know Wembley can blow a team away quickly - us or them. This is a different game than the Papa Johns. There's shit riding on it...like there was last night when the supporters who've been grumbled at on occasion backed the team through and through (as they did at Barnsley).

COYWM.

[boltonboris]

Fantastic night of football. Disappointed to lose the game on the night, but we went through which is all that matters. Fair play to Barnsley. They gave that a right go!!

Our fans were magnificent. The noise levels were insane.

Genuinely wasn't going to go on the pitch, until my wife asked where my 8yr old son had gone and I spotted him clambering over the boards - Had to go get him. To be fair, memories that will stay with him, as he's swinging his shirt round his head and doing klinsmanns on the pitch. Nice to share that moment with him, even if it may be a little premature.

I bloody love this club!!

[boltonboris]

On Santos.. Bloke in front of me summed him up perfectly. "He gets bored and does something stupid" and after he said it, it does feel like that.

He can sometimes be so comfortable and dominant that it can seem easy, so he tries Cruyff turns and flicks that backfire. He needs to cut that out. As good as he is and he is very, very good you do get the feeling that he'll gift them one

[BWFC_Insane]

Over the season, we're approaching 1 in 3 where the oppo have scored at least 2. If that doesn't undo us in 10 days, it needs a lot of work. And if it does it needs a lot of work!

There's little merit in pointing out there's two teams. That's how football works. We know there's two teams, can we just stop the other one scoring 3 quite as often?

We should also point out there's a ball, maybe put it in the net more often than they put it in ours!

The last three games, we've not had much possession. 43, 40, 50.1%. And we've probably shaded a couple of decisions, but it feels like much to be done in 10 days, because we know Wembley can blow a team away quickly - us or them. This is a different game than the Papa Johns. There's shit riding on it...like there was last night when the supporters who've been grumbled at on occasion backed the team through and through (as they did at Barnsley).

COYWM.

Didn’t have much of the ball at Barnsley but for 75 minutes we were as solid as you will see. They scored and then rocked us a bit bit still defended with intensity. I have no issues with that as a defensive performance.

But last night - you just can’t defend like that in a big game and as you say anything remotely like that at Wembley and we can forget any hope of promotion. The back three is a problem. But it goes beyond that. The midfield - have to do a lot more to screen them a lot more physical protection. It’s their job. It’s no good Sheehan passing players on. You are there as a midfield player in front of the back three it’s your job. And Maghoma can’t just drift off and stop because he doesn’t fancy tracking back.

We got the job done and frankly the frustrating thing is we can do. First leg and last fifteen last night we showed we can focus and defend. But we seemingly can’t do it as a routine.

[BWFC_Insane]

On Santos.. Bloke in front of me summed him up perfectly. "He gets bored and does something stupid" and after he said it, it does feel like that.

He can sometimes be so comfortable and dominant that it can seem easy, so he tries Cruyff turns and flicks that backfire. He needs to cut that out. As good as he is and he is very, very good you do get the feeling that he'll gift them one

Maybe. He reminds me of Alan Stubbs. Physically far far too good for the level but mentally - not matching the top players.

Stubbs got bored and switched off. Except he did it in games like Grimsby at home. When the big games rolled round he stood up and almost always rose to the occasion and played above himself.

[Worthy4England]

Over the season, we're approaching 1 in 3 where the oppo have scored at least 2. If that doesn't undo us in 10 days, it needs a lot of work. And if it does it needs a lot of work!

There's little merit in pointing out there's two teams. That's how football works. We know there's two teams, can we just stop the other one scoring 3 quite as often?

We should also point out there's a ball, maybe put it in the net more often than they put it in ours!

The last three games, we've not had much possession. 43, 40, 50.1%. And we've probably shaded a couple of decisions, but it feels like much to be done in 10 days, because we know Wembley can blow a team away quickly - us or them. This is a different game than the Papa Johns. There's shit riding on it...like there was last night when the supporters who've been grumbled at on occasion backed the team through and through (as they did at Barnsley).

COYWM.

Didn’t have much of the ball at Barnsley but for 75 minutes we were as solid as you will see. They scored and then rocked us a bit bit still defended with intensity. I have no issues with that as a defensive performance.

But last night - you just can’t defend like that in a big game and as you say anything remotely like that at Wembley and we can forget any hope of promotion. The back three is a problem. But it goes beyond that. The midfield - have to do a lot more to screen them a lot more physical protection. It’s their job. It’s no good Sheehan passing players on. You are there as a midfield player in front of the back three it’s your job. And Maghoma can’t just drift off and stop because he doesn’t fancy tracking back.

We got the job done and frankly the frustrating thing is we can do. First leg and last fifteen last night we showed we can focus and defend. But we seemingly can’t do it as a routine.

We certainly played decent at Barnsley, the bit I was alluding to was "with them having 60% possession" and yeah it's not just the guys with "D" in their job title that need to defend. I wondered about our ability to string together 3 consistent play-off performances and we haven't managed that, but overall got away with it.

I'm going to call the next match a "must win."

[dave the minion]

And Maghoma can’t just drift off and stop because he doesn’t fancy tracking back.

I agree with this completely. The guy is a hell of a talent and the only player in our team who can unlock defences like he does with his twisting and turning and incisive passes, but on many occasions I see him meandering back without busting a gut to chase opposition players down - especially last night.

I think he's been an amazing signing and would love nothing more than to see him back next season (and beyond), but this element of his game frustrates me.

I'd also love to know how he doesn't lose the ball more often - seems to relish in running into trouble and squirming his way out of it....


In saying that, it was noticeable last night there seemed to be a lot of space for Barnsley to stream forward in the middle of the park with no one tracking them or closing them down (several of our players were "guilty" of not chasing down). Part of me wonders if its on instruction from Evatt so as not to tire themselves out busting a gut in a less dangerous part of the pitch, but its frustrating to see. Collins was also doing it, and at times it was like he'd track back to a certain point and then stop, as if he's been told not to go any further.

[dave the minion]

.... it's not just the guys with "D" in their job title that need to defend.

I'd argue it is exactly just the guys with "D" in their job title that need to defend - the Defenders, miDfielders and forwarDs......**




** couldn't fit a D into wing-backs/full-backs unfortunately (unless we call them wiDe Defenders?)